Late mini swarm

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Jordy

New Bee
Joined
Oct 28, 2009
Messages
40
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Location
Teesside
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
A fellow newbie near me has found that the queen from his first hive has moved into his new 'spare' hive taking just a few workers from the original colony with her. What's happening & why, especially at this time of year?:confused:
 
Late swarms can be very small, sometimes just a cupful of bees. It is not as uncommom as people think, and the colony which issues the swarm is usually doomed.

Main reason for loss of late swarms = too much feeding and too small hives, but supersedure also plays its part.

Unless beek has an empty hive for the swarm to move into, beek usually does not notice swarm has left in the first place.
 
Thanks MB....I will pass that on. Overfeeding in preperation for winter in one's learning curve years is probably more common than anything else I'd have thought. Cheers.
 
I think quite often the bees raise 2 supercedure cells and if both hatch, then one leaves with a few bees as a 'mini swarm'. She probably thinks, plenty of bees, plenty of stores, plenty still coming in (ivy)...let's go!
 

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